Worst race?

Barkley is the worst because of the additional made up rules associated with it. If it were on a standardized course then ya, it wouldn't be the worst. Barkley is almost more orienteering than actual running race.

I would not call it the "worst", but my vote for most overrated marathon is Grandma's Marathon. My issues with are it is an early summer marathon with late morning start (7:30) and no shade on the course. Generally the temps are warm, so it is borderline suicidal to run a marathon in those conditions. Any point to point race like this one will have challenging logistics of getting to the start or getting to the finish. The Duluth hotels are ridiculously overpriced on that weekend. Good luck finding anything reasonable in Two Harbors either. On the plus, the people in the area are nice and it is a great after-party.

I only ran Grandma's once, an eternity ago (1991), but I really liked the race and the weather was fine. The little plane on which I flew into Duluth was populated almost entirely by runners. When the captain got on the horn as we prepared to descend and told us that the weather was overcast and in the 40s (in the afternoon), the plane erupted in cheers. Probably the only time you'll ever see that.

Grandmas is fast if the weather cooperates. But, yes the hotel situation is miserable. You have to plan ahead and book early. I think hotels are more expensive for boston though.

The rules, race length and difficulty for Barkley is always changing. If nobody finishes for a couple of years they get a little easier. If a couple are finishing in one year it will get a little bit more difficult the next year. It's a well orchestrated now over hyped survival trip. A race it is not.

Marathon de Sables is an expensive very well organized event in the Moroccan desert. You have to run in sand but it doesn't have impossible difficult cut offs.

Badwater 135 is the most overrated thing ever. The organizer is famous for hyping up his event and let's everybody in who brings a cameraman as well. With the old race rules you had people finishing that thing who were not able to finish a sub 5 hour marathon. Now they have to start in the evening and there is a 48 hour cut of.

what are some rule changes Barkley made?

It's not a fixed course. Honestly it's not even a course. Laz strings together a dozen different standard features e.g. Rat Jaw in whatever order he sees fit that year

run neither - but props on the handle name there - spectacular stuff.